TO: RE: ALA Executive Board Public Information Office Media/Social Media Report EBD #12.17 2012-2013 ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information Item No Action Required ACTION REQUESTED BY: Cathleen Bourdon, Associate Executive Director, Communications and Member Relations CONTACT PERSONS: Mark Gould, Director, Public Information Office, 312-280-5042, mgould@ala.org Macey Morales, Media Relations Manager, 312-280-4393, mmorales@ala.org; DRAFT OF MOTION: NA DATE: January16, 2013 BACKGROUND: According to the Newspaper Association of America, there are more than 1,400 daily newspapers and 6,700 weekly newspapers in the United States, so the following report should be viewed as a snapshot of coverage achieved by the American Library Association (ALA). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Media relations activity for the past quarter (Oct. 1, 2012 Jan. 6, 2013) has focused in several areas including Banned Books Week, Teen Read Week, International Games Day and ebook lending in libraries. This quarter the ALA achieved more than 16,442 mentions/articles, which resulted in a circulation rate of more than 2.8 Billion. This reporting cycle there were a total of 23 negative articles/mentions from conservative groups like Focus on the Family and Dan Kleinman. All attacks were fueled by Banned Books Week and ALA s position on censorship. Banned Books Week 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week (Sept. 30 Oct. 6), a time to celebrate the freedom to read. Banned Books Week received the majority of coverage this quarter. ALA spokespeople participated in more than 25 interviews including such publications as USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Banned Books Week coverage could be found in Time Magazine, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, New Yorker, The Atlantic and with other high-level news agencies. PIO developed a variety of press materials, a Web press kit, and secured interviews for ALA leadership and Office for Intellectual Freedom staff with NPR s Talk of the Nation, WRVA Clear Channel Radio (Richmond, Va.) and The Macomb Daily /Daily Tribune (Macomb, Mich.) and Sun Newspapers (Cleveland). Page 1 of 5
Every year, OIF receives hundreds of challenges on books and other materials. In 2011, there were 326 known attempts to remove materials and more than 11,300 attempts since OIF began to electronically compile and publish information on book challenges in 1990. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom coordinated the 50 State Salute to Banned Books Week, featuring videos from each state proclaiming the importance of the freedom to read. And for the second year in a row, the ALA along with Banned Books Week co-sponsors, hosted a Virtual Read Out on YouTube in which participants were able to share the virtues of their favorite banned books with the world. This year s celebrity participants included James Patterson, Molly Ringwald, John Green, Junot Diaz and more. Award-winning broadcast journalists Bill Moyers and Judith Davidson Moyers served as the Honorary Co-Chairs for the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. Bill Moyers, the host of Moyers & Company on public television and a long-time supporter of Banned Books Week, produced a video essay titled The Bane of Banned Books addressing the importance of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. Moyers also discussed the topic in his Web chat series Live Chat with Bill Moyers on Monday, Oct. 1. There were very few negative news articles making up less than 1 percent of all Banned Books Week coverage. PIO s monitoring service captured 14 negative articles ranging in topic from why we need to censor youth materials to how banned books week is a hoax. Negative publicity reached an audience of nearly 60,000. Social Media mentions were higher than ever this year with nearly 5,100 clips recorded. Due to the volume of hits, PIO had to stop monitoring due to CisionPoint account limits. The majority of Social Media coverage, which includes blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter and photo/video sharing sites, was positive. Teen Read Week 2012 marked the 15th anniversary of Teen Read Week, Oct. 14 20, a time to celebrate reading for fun and to encourage teens to take advantage of reading in all its forms. This year s theme was It Came from the Library, Dare to Read for the Fun of it. Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author John Green was the national spokesperson for Teen Read Week 2012. Green s many accolades include YALSA's Michael L. Printz Award, a Michael L. Printz Honor, and the Edgar Award. With his brother, Hank, Green is one half of the Vlogbrothers, one of the most popular online video projects in the world. During the week YALSA released its Teens Top Teen, which caught the attention of the Associated Press. The article entitled Teens pick 'Divergent' as favorite novel was picked up by more than 300 news websites. Page 2 of 5
YALSA president Jack Martin wrote an opinion piece for Huffington Post entitled Your Teen is Reading What? The article focused on teen reading trends. The article received more than 165 shares and was tweeted more than 100 times. PIO achieved more than 3,645 Teen Read Week mentions/articles, which resulted in a circulation rate of more than 278 million. Teen Read Week PSA scripts also were picked up by radio stations in multiple cities including Washington, New York and Philadelphia. International Games Day National Gaming Day @ your library is now known as International Games Day and libraries throughout the world particpated in video and board game activities. More than 1,200 libraries registered and more than 17,000 partrons particpated in gaming events. ALA President Maureen Sullivan and National Games Day Coordinator Jenny Levine particpated in an interview with the News Observer. The article entitled Libraries hosts Games Day to encourage learning, unite communities, discussed how libraries bring communities together. Levine also participated in interviews with The Brooklyn Paper and produced a blog post for the Huffington Post. Publicity efforts for International Games Day resulted in more than 780 articles/mentions and a circulation rate of 81 million. Ebooks ALA s efforts to keep ebook lending practices in libraries in the limelight continues. This quarter the ALA Washington Office released a member tool kit that provides members and library supporters with tools needed to advocate for ebook access. Among the tools are templates and guidelines for using them with editorial and news media contacts, news hooks you can use locally, tips for relationship building with media contacts, and links to examples of e-book-related editorials and news stories. PIO provided the Washington Office with a Media Relations Handbook and tips for members on how to use PR tools such as press releases, public service announcements and op eds. The battle between libraries and publishers continue to make headlines. Publishers being Scrooges when it comes to e-books, from The News Tribune and The Mystery of the missing e-books, from AOL.com are just a couple of examples. Page 3 of 5
Coverage at a Glance \ POSITIVE NEUTRAL NEGATIVE Total Clips 6,759 9,660 23 Total Circulation 1,559,936,134 1,317,970,268 1,658,432 Total Articles/Mentions: 16,442 Circulation: 2,879,564,834 SOCIAL MEDIA The following is a snapshot of social media coverage. Please note that PIO s monitoring vendor does not provide social media circlation. This quarter the ALA received nearly 12,000 social media mentions. The majority of social media coverage focused on Banned Books Week and ebook lending in libraries. Negative coverage was fueled by conservative views on ALA s stance on book banning. Page 4 of 5
[Positive: 6,716] [Neutral: 4,568] [Negative: 13] Total: 11,297 BLOGS The majority of blog coverage was positive and focused on Banned Books Week and Library Card Signup Month. [Positive: 733] [Neutral: 1,591] [Negative: 6 ] Total: 2,330 SOCIAL MEDIA [TWITTER & FACE-BOOK] The majority of Tweets focused on Banned Books Week and Library Card Sign-up Month. [Positive: 5,883] [Neutral 2,889] [Negative: 7] Total: 8,779 PHOTO SHARING [YOUTUBE & FLICKR ] The majority of video posts were part of the Banned Books Week virtual read out. [Positive: 100] [Neutral: 88] [Negative:0] Total: 188 [END] Page 5 of 5